Alan Gayle is a sales and marketing consultant specialising in the construction industry and working in the stone sector for more than a decade. In this column he offers advice on how to make an impact in the market. This month Alan asks: how important is Google.

Following on from my last two articles about websites, the next logical thing to consider is the importance of getting found on Google.

Appearing on page one of Google – or any other search engine – is likely to benefit most businesses. But just how important is it in the building industry?

The answer will depend on your business and your objectives. Most importantly, it depends on what you sell, who you sell it to, how potential customers are likely to find you and your position in the market compared with your competitors.

Appearing on page one of Google will be beneficial for virtually all businesses. But whether you sell products or services, at a high or low unit price, business to consumer (B2C) or businesses to business (B2B), it’s rarely a magic bullet for growth in the building industry.

When I say it’s not ‘a magic bullet’, I mean it’s not as important in our industry as it is for, say, the travel industry.

If you Google ‘cheap flights’, being on page one is of paramount importance for a lot of the companies selling their wares in that sector. In many cases it’s their primary source of business and appearing on the second or third pages can be disastrous for sales.

The same is true for thousands of small businesses that rely on their websites for their sales. These are usually e-commerce websites (see last month’s column).

The internet and search engines are now a part of our everyday life and we use them both at work and at home. An entire industry has evolved that is dedicated to improving a website’s position on Google. The industry is called SEO (search engine optimisation). It focuses on SERP (search engine results page) for specific keywords (the words your potential customers type into Google’s search box).

If you receive as much spam as I do you’ll probably get several emails a month promising you a page one position on Google. While an SEO specialist (probably not the ones that send you spam!) can certainly improve your online profile, does the result justify the cost?

That question needs to be answered by the person or people running the business.

We have a client who spends £2,000 a month on SEO and PPC (pay per click) advertising. While that may sound like a lot, it’s a sound investment for this company because of the amount of business it generates. As I’ve said before: marketing is only expensive if it’s not producing anything for you. Who wouldn’t pay £2,000 to secure £50,000 of new business?

No matter who your customers are, what your objectives are or what you sell, it’s probably worth putting some effort into your search engine ranking so people can at least find you on one of the first few pages of results if they search for your company name. There are several low cost ‘tricks of the trade’ you can employ to improve your position without having to pay for specialist SEO services. I shall discuss some of them in the next column.

But remember: unless you have an e-commerce website or your customers are very likely to search on Google before they buy (like the cheap flights example I used), don’t expect it to be a magic bullet.

Alan Gayle has worked in sales and marketing roles in the construction industry since 1993. Following a successful career with some of the UK’s leading building product manufacturers, he has worked in the stone sector more than a decade. He now runs keystone Construction Marketing, a marketing agency specialising in the construction industry. The agency works with building contractors, subcontractors and building product suppliers to help them increase their sales and improve their margins.